This is definitely not one of Ms Fforde's better books (and believe me I am a fan). It all feels a little bit rush to meet a deadline with a half formed idea and just slap all the usual tropes together and maybe it will come out okay.
It starts out with trying to save the Village Hall which is in a heinous state of affairs and, to be perfectly honest, it sounds like they'd be better off knocking it down and starting again rather than trying to rescue it. This brings together Lindy (native of the village and a single mum), Beth (young woman who is relying on the charity of friends for a roof over head) and Rachel (newly single and determined to make the most of her show house worthy house in the village). After a chance meeting at the said hall they go to the pub and over one glass of wine decide to go in to business together providing "vintage" weddings. Once this is decided the Village Hall very much takes a back seat and is referred to only fleetingly; to be honest even the wedding business doesn't have a starring role - it is all about these three women and how their lives change courtesy of meeting each other.
Unfortunately this doesn't really work as well on the page as it usually does for this author. The characterisations are all a little flat and Rachel's issues aorund people in her space and the white perfection of her home are cookie cutter cliches that are over-ridden by the character with seemingly no effort and certainly no professional input. Don't get me wrong I read this genre for the uncomplicated simpicity and the sheer escapism from real life but this book just took it all that one step too far in to rose tinted glasses land.
It is, though, a happy read. Not exactly life-affirming but you will get the chance to groan in empathy with Beth and her dire life choices, you will also get to giggle a little and nod sagely in places too. I suppose the real let down is that is uncharacteristically flat in several ways from the sheer unbelievability of the plot, the dullness of the characters on the page, the main issue is that it picks up ideas and then sets them down again only to revisit them several chapters later and try and extricate them from the plot because they have been supplanted as a device.
There are much better books by this author so if this is your first sample of her writing don't be put off.
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